2018 Annual Conference - 29 October Recap

2018 Annual Conference

A packed day of Sub-committee meetings mixed in with an open forum on safety in sailing sparked the conversation on 29 October at World Sailing's 2018 Annual Conference in Sarasota, Florida, USA.

Olympic Classes Sub-committee

The Olympic Classes representatives met to discuss the last 12-months of activities.

The Sub-committee reviewed the 2018 Hempel Sailing World Championships Aarhus 2018 and deemed the event as the most successful yet. They noted that there were some lessons to be learnt and these will be applied to The Hague who will host the next edition in 2022.

Enoshima, Japan hosted the first Tokyo 2020 Olympic test event in September. The Classes reviewed the test event and discussed the future qualification events for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The Classes also debated the future Event Strategy proposals and looked ahead to the 2021-2028 calendar of events and the importance of generating a calendar of events that is attractive to the sailors.

International Umpires Sub-committee

Umpires play a key role in match racing events and medal races, making the important decisions on the water. The Sub-committee discussed umpiring in fleet, match and team racing and best practice. The development of umpires was also discussed alongside education to ensure the officials on the water continue to make the right decisions when it really matters.

Regional Games Sub-committee

Five regional games were held in 2018. These include the Mediterranean Games, South American Games, African Games, Asian Games and the Central American and Caribbean Games.

In 2019, eight regional games will be held. These include the Pacific Games, Indian Ocean Island Games, World Beach Games, African Beach Games, 2019 Pan American Games, CISM World Game, SEA Games and Mediterranean Beach Games.

The 19th Games of Small States of Europe and 2nd European Games won't feature sailing in 2019 and the Sub-committee discussed opportunities to push sailing into these games as well as ones in 2020 and all the way through to 2028.

Para World Sailing was also discussed. The discipline was included in the Para European Youth Games and the Sub-committee are working to include it in further events. It is expected Para World Sailing will be included in the Mediterranean Beach Games 2019 and discussions are ongoing for its inclusion in the Asian Games 2022 and Parapan Games in 2023.

Match Racing Sub-committee

World Sailing has a host of match racing events from Youth and Women to Blind Match Racing World Championships.

The Sub-committee took some time to review reports from Technical Delegates of the 2018 editions of these championships. Looking further ahead, they discussed a busy 2019 season of match racing events with the Nations Cup also taking place.

Equipment Rules Sub-committee

The next edition of the Equipment Rules of Sailing will come out in 2021 and run through to 2024. Ahead of the publication, numerous submissions have been put forward, proposing change to the current edition which would be applied to the next one.

Submissions proposed want to add further definitions to the ERS and the Sub-committee put forward their recommendations to the Equipment Committee.

Watch and follow

The eSailing World Championship Final, two Forums, two days of Council and the Annual General Meeting will all be streamed on World Sailing's YouTube. Click here for the live playlist.

Daily news reports will be available on World Sailing's website, World Sailing's Twitter and Facebook account will cover the event with regular news and updates and daily videos providing insight into the discussions will also be available here - www.youtube.com/worldsailingtv.